Little Ones Always Look Up. Daphne Kate. December, 2013. Lift up your eyes on high And see who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, Not one of them is missing. Isaiah 40:26 (NASB) It’s the weekend. […]

Christopher Williams and his Djembe. Video by Sandra Heska King. [This post is the second in a series of reflections from the retreat I attended in November with The High Calling folks. You can find the first installment here.] At Laity Lodge, the musicians in residence aren’t there to entertain. They are there to engage. In […]

It Started at Shipmates When I was a small child, my family worshiped at First Congregational UCC in San Bernardino. Our parents belonged to Shipmates, a couples’ fellowship. Many of my most enduring memories of that congregation stem from Shipmates-instigated activities. Notable among these events were Pal Week (a secret-friend type weeklong adventure that must remain […]

What’s A Tool Worth? I get perverse pleasure from arguing with the GPS system that’s built right in to our new car. Maybe I need a support group. Or an intervention. I really don’t know. Here’s the thing. When Esmeralda and I argue (yes, I’ve named her. Is that weird?), eventually, I get my way. Sure, […]

Barefoot. Tahaa, French Polynesia, 2004. Bare Feet and Holy HomesWhen I lived on Tahaa, I quickly learned to count the pile of sandals on a doorstep to determine how many people shared the home. My sister there wore dainty little red flip-flops. I knew I was settling in the day I caught myself turning back […]

Meet Sheila

Sheila Seiler Lagrand, Ph.D., earned her doctorate in anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles. As an undergraduate at the University of California, San Diego, she studied anthropology and literature with an emphasis in writing. But her dad would tell you that she's been writing since she was big enough to hold a pencil.
Sheila has contributed to several edited volumes. Her Christmas story, Kathi Macias' 12 Days of Christmas: Volume 8: Yankee Doodle Christmas, released in December of 2013. In October of 2014, her serialized novel, Remembering for Ruth, based on the characters of Yankee Doodle Christmas, released. Sheila also worked on a collaborative romance novel, The San Francisco Wedding Planner, just for fun. Her essay, "Strip Tease" appears in Soul Bare, edited by Cara Sexton and releasing in fall, 2016 from InterVarsity Press. Currently she is working on a book about family relationships across multiple generations.